Shower-bath



N. PETERS, PHOTO'LITHOGRAPHH. WASHINGTON D4 Cl- STEPHEN BATES, OF DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOWER-BATH.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,302, dated October 12, 1843.

To all whom it may concern ,Be it known that I, STEPHEN Barns, of Dedham, in the` county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shower-Baths, and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying' drawings,

hereinafter referred to, forms` a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements by which my invention may be distinguished*l from others of a similar class, together with such parts or combinations as I claim and wish to have secured to me by Letters Patent. y

It is well known, that in the use of the aforement-ionedbaths, it is frequently desirable to repeat the operation of showering several successive times with the same water, and that considerable exertion is requisite to raise the water to the showering or upper basin `for the first bath, whilethe same exertion is necessary, and great inconvenience is experienced in removing it from the lower or foot basin and replacing it in the upper one for a second or third bath. Heretofore this operation has been accomplished by carrying the water up steps of sutiicient height, to pour it in at the top of the bathing apparatus, or by means of a force pump, both ways being exceedingly wearisome and the latter considerably expensive.

My improvements consist in suspending the upper or showering basin andparts connected with the same so that they may be lowered to any required depth to enable a person to pour in the water by raising it a little distance from the floor, and after it is so poured in, the said basin, &c., may be raised to its original position or to any height, from which it may be desired to have.

the water fall.

The figures of the accompanying plate of drawings represent my improvements.

Figure l, isa front elevation of the ape paratus, showing the showering apparatus developed. Fig. 2, is a cross vertical sec tion, the showering basin being near the top. Fig. 3, is a plan and Fig. 4, is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the line A B Fig. 2.

A, Figs. 1, 2, 4, is a square or rectangular foot basin or tub in which is supportedon legs b, &c., and has a suitable discharging orifice o in thebottom, through which the water passes out and falls into any proper receiving vessel.

(Z, d, &c., are square upright posts, larranged cne at each of the inside corners of the basin a as shown in Figs. l, 2, `and 4. These posts may be solid with a right angular groove formed therein as shown in Fig. 4, or they maybe formed of two pieces of board `or plank, framed together so as` to form said groove or space for the showering basin to slide up and down in, as will be explained hereinafter. To the outside of the posts (Z, CZ, &c., pieces of oiled cloth e or any other` fabric impervious to water are to be tacked, so as to inclose the apparatus on three of its sides, (the front being leftopen for entrance), and on the outside of this cloth and fastened to the posts CZ, d, &c., are strips of board f, j', Figs. t and 4 beveled olf, so as to form a dovetailed or other shaped groove at each corner of theapparatus, the object of which grooves will be shown hereinafter. The posts CZ, CZ, &c., are surmounted by al cap molding g g g g Figs. l, 2, 3, which incloses or surrounds the showering' basin when it is in its highestposition. 7L `/L` is a rectangular showering basin the bottom of which is perforated in the ordinary way.

z' is the turning bucket shaped as` seen in section in Fig. 2, in `which the water to be used is poured. This bucket is supported by journals 7c, 7c, Fig. 3, which rest in proper bearings projecting upward from the basin It l1., the said journals being arranged so as to be eccentric or out of the axis of the bucket., in the usual way. A lip or projection Z`Figs. l and 2 on the heavier' side of the bucket and which rests on the top of one side of the basin It it, serves to keep the bucket horizontal when lled with water, and acord m Fig. l, attached to the other side enables the person in the bath to turn the bucket when desired.`

The showering basin as has beenbefore suggested, is suspended at its four corners from the cords a, n, n, n, as shown in Fig. 4, and slides up and down in the right angular spaces ofthe posts d, cl, being guided in its motions by the depending bars or legs o, 0, attached to the four corners of its underside. The cords n, ai, &c., pass up over the pulleys` p, p, p, p, in the upright blocks` g, g, Q, g, (arranged on the topof the capmolding g g g g one at each corner of, the same), and have fastened to their ends the weights 1" 1" 11 r Figs. 1 and t. These .weights combined are sufiicient to nearly or quite counterpoise the weight of' the basin /L 7L and bucket t' when filled with water, so that it may require but little exertion to raise the showering apparatus when filled for use; the inner faces of these weights are also formed with suitable tongues to match the grooves before described as formed by the strips of board j, by which arrangement the said weights are guided in their motions up and down.

The showering apparatus isfpulled down to receive the water by means of the looped cord s Fig. l7 and is kept down while the water is being poured into the bucket z', by means of the confining pin t which is passed through the hole u, in one of the posts d, above the top of the basin /t when it is depressed. v

It will be apparent that other means may be devised for suspending the showering apparatus, though I consider that described above as novel and preferable, the main feature however of my invention consists in making the showering apparatus movable for the purposes specified.

Having thus described my improvements shall claim as my invention- Making or arranging the showering apparatus and turning bucket so that they may be raised or depressed at pleasure in the manner set forth.

In testimony that the foregoing is a true description, of my said invention and improvements I have hereto set my signature this eighth day of August in the year eighteen hundred and forty three.

STEPHEN BATES. litnesses EZRA LiNcoLN, Jr., GRIDLEY I. E BRYANT. 

